City: Chennai

Neighbourhood parks of Chennai and the play areas in them see much activity in the summer. The schools are on a break and residents seek reprieve from the heat in some green cover. With the frequent lockdowns in the past few years, visiting the local park and play areas had become a rarity. But with the first signs of normalcy, the number of residents looking to spend time in parks for leisure is on the rise again. However, not all parks and play areas get the necessary amount of upkeep. Many smaller parks have faced much neglect, with the residents…

Mayor R Priya presented the annual  budget  2022-23 for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on April 9th 2022. The budgetary allocations for solid waste management are based on the premise of effective segregation on the ground, but what are the present realities?  “Waste Management in Chennai city is much the same as before, in some places people segregate waste and in some gated communities people manage their wet waste using in situ composting. Colour coded bins are the new addition and uniforms have changed. GCC has not been able to enforce the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016”, says P. Natarajan,…

Food and beverage stalls at MRTS stations The Southern Railways is all set to introduce food and beverage stalls across MRTS stations in Chennai. The move has been in limbo for many years due to stringent norms for setting up stalls at stations. When this was attempted previously, only two stalls came up, one at Thiruvanmiyur and Mandaveli each.The move to set up stalls will also improve the overall safety of the stations which currently have long, deserted platforms. The reason for few takers for the stalls is that the rules demand a fixed fee from the contractors who are…

Chennai saw harrowing visuals of the self-immolation attempts by G Kannaiyan, a 58-year-old resident of Govindasamy Nagar. Kannaiyan immolated himself on May 8th in protest against the forced eviction drive carried out in the locality. He suffered over 90% burns and was declared dead on the morning of May 9th. Kannaiyan, like many residents of the area, was protesting the eviction of residents and demolition of their homes on the back of a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that labelled them as encroachers and ordered their relocation. A total of 116 houses have been demolished since April 29th, with further orders…

Shilpa, a fellow educator, and I have been teaching at an under-resourced government school in Thyagaraya Nagar for the past two years. We started in August 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic. The students we teach are first generation learners from an urban slum community in Thyagaraya Nagar, and their parents are daily wage workers, house help and roadside vendors. One of the things we noticed was that there is hardly any parental involvement in the child’s educational journey. The only time parents are called in is to hand over documents, sign applications, or for one-way parent-teacher meetings,…

Translated by Sandhya Raju 'அழுக்கு, குப்பைகள், அதிக அமிலத்தன்மை கொண்ட கறுப்பு நீர், துர்நாற்றம்' இப்படித்தான் ஓட்டேரி நல்லாவை அதன் ஒட்டி வாழும் மக்கள் வர்ணிக்கிறார்கள். சென்னயில் உள்ள 32 இயற்கையான கால்வாய்களில் ஒட்டேரி நல்லாவும் ஒன்றாகும். பக்கிங்ஹாம் கால்வாயில் வெள்ள நீரை வெளியேற்றும் உள்ளூர் நீர்வழி அமைப்பாக முக்கிய பங்காற்றிய இந்த கால்வாய், பல ஆண்டுகளாக பராமரிக்கப்படாததால் குப்பைகள் மற்றும் கழிவுகளை கொட்டும் இடமாக மாறிவிட்டது. 2015 வெள்ளம் இன்றும் இங்குள்ள மக்கள் மனதில் பீதியை உண்டாக்குகிறது. ஆனால், ஒவ்வொரு முறை மழை பெய்யும் போதும், 10.2 கி.மீ நீண்ட ஒட்டேரி நல்லா கரையோரத்தில் வசிக்கும் மக்கள் வெள்ள பாதிப்பை சந்திக்கின்றனர். ஓட்டேரி நல்லாவின் முக்கியத்துவம் கூவம், அடையாறு, கொசஸ்தலையாறு ஆகிய ஆறுகள் சென்னை வழியாக பாய்கின்றன. கடற்கரைக்கு இணையாக ஓடும் பக்கிங்ஹாம் கால்வாய், கூவம் மற்றும் அடையாறு ஆகியவற்றை இணைக்கிறது. கொசஸ்தலையாற்றின் துணை நீர்ப்பிடிப்புப் பகுதியான கிழக்கு-மேற்கு…

Legacy waste in Chennai’s dumpyards has become a ticking time-bomb making headlines over the years. The latest in a long line of incidents at Chennai’s dumpyards was a fire that broke out in Perungudi in the last week of April. The blaze spread across 15 acres and took four days for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Fire and Rescue Services and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) to put out.  While much is talked about waste management and the source segregation of household waste, such incidents bring into sharp focus the scale of legacy waste at the…

New 'Chennai Bus' application launched to help commuters navigate city Transport Minister S.S.Sivasankar launched the Chennai Bus App to provide commuters with real time information on the location of MTC buses in the city. The app was developed in collaboration with ‘Chalo’, a transport technology company. The application tracks around 3233 MTC buses, running through 622 routes, and halting at 6022 stops.  The application is currently only available for android devices, but will be branching out after its initial launch. In addition to tracking, users can also send distress signals to their contacts or police offices in the case of…

The proposed letter from the building committee of the High Court of Madras to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), asking the latter to consider shifting Hynmers’ Obelisk from its present location, has brought into sharp focus the role of the ASI when it comes to protecting monuments that are under its control. Will it stand up to its mandate or simply give in is the question. We sincerely hope it will be the former option. Little protection for monuments As per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, it is forbidden to take up any…

Many areas that were merged with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in 2011 are yet to receive many civic amenities and services. The residents of Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam’s Srinivasa Nagar and Ram Nagar have been experiencing issues with water supply and sewage. Many in the area do not have what should be basic civic amenities and have been raising the issue with great fervour over the past few months. There are a few reasons for the problems faced by residents with water supply and sewage connections, as we have understood from our talks with city officials and engineers. These include improper and…